The digital therapist has its advantages. Because the patient is less ashamed when he exposes his discomfort in front of an algorithm: he does not feel judged. You perceive the program as more neutral, nor will you have to interpret the examiner's body language. They have called it “digital disinhibition.” The same can be said with a digital tutor for students: they feel that the virtual assistant does not bother them, while leaving time for the real teacher to have more time to prepare their classes.
These are some of the possibilities that artificial intelligence (AI) already allows today. A technology that raises dilemmas: will the human therapist still be necessary? How much should the academic be paid if the algorithm can make a training session free?
These and many other questions were debated at the Gartner IT Symposium/XPO, a conference that brings together more than 8,000 executives in Barcelona this week. AI is already here (or will be soon): according to surveys by this consultancy, 80% of company technology executives plan to fully adopt generative artificial intelligence in the next three years.
According to Gartner, the impact on the labor market in the short term (in the next three years) would be rather neutral. It would be a zero-sum game, because some jobs will indeed be lost, but others of the same magnitude will be created. In the long term, however, the various artificial intelligence solutions will create around 500 million new (human) jobs on a global scale in the next ten years.
By then, “80% of humans will interact with intelligent machines on a daily basis.” “We have made a mistake. We believed that this technology did not have the capacity to express and understand human empathy. Yes, it can,” says Mary Mesaglio, vice president of Gartner. She adds: “We are moving from ‘what machines can do for us’ to ‘what machines can be for us’.”
Mesaglio explains that there are two forms of AI. The one that is used daily, which roughly allows you to do the same thing, but more quickly and efficiently. As its use spreads and becomes massive, its competitive advantage for companies will gradually tend to decrease. The other, on the other hand, is focused on creativity, creates new results, changes the rules of the game and opens the possibility of opening new businesses.
Faced with these transformations, the labor market faces new challenges. Do tomorrow's workers have the necessary skills to adapt to this technological environment? Gabriela Vogel, senior analyst at Gartner, explained that the academic curriculum will have to be rethought. “From now on perhaps we can take advantage of talents that had previously been excluded. Maybe it is not necessary to have a career in the traditional sense,” she stated.
In a study last September, the consulting firm McKinsey was even more optimistic and estimated that AI will generate some 700 million net jobs by 2030: “The biggest disruptions will take place in customer services, food services, office support or manufacturing industry. “Workers in these categories will have to be upskilled and relocated.” Or go to the (digital) therapist.
